Elizabeth Warren-Scott Brown Senate race, Sat. edition

5/5/12 11:54 AM EDT

The Boston Globe has two stories worth reading today about the heavyweight Massachusetts Senate race between Sen. Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren.

The first looks at the courtship of Boston Mayor Tom Menino, a Democrat who has yet to embrace Warren and continues to play hard to get:

Now Menino, whose endorsement is capable of delivering thousands of votes on Election Day, faces a choice: Does he go all out for Warren or hold back, in deference to Brown?

Menino’s personality may mesh with Brown, but his politics align with Warren, a hard-charging consumer advocate. Some of Brown’s votes in the Senate have been at odds with issues dear to the mayor, such as supporting budgets that slashed money for public housing, community health centers, and grants for urban social services.

But Menino has a history of playing hard to get with Democrats running for statewide office. And he has proved in the past that personality can trump party.

Menino has stated outright that he will not break from his party and back Brown. But he has been coy enough about a Warren endorsement - smiling slightly as he gives a noncommittal answer - that people keep asking the question. The real issue is whether Menino will push his get-out-the-vote machine for Warren in November, and how much it matters in a presidential election year when a surge of voters can double the ballots cast in Boston.

The other piece reviews Warren's tough past week, where she's struggled to respond coherently to a flap over her claims to Native American ancestry.

The fallout and her unsteady response to it subjected the rookie Democratic Senate candidate to tough questions, an unflattering national glare, and a recognition from others that she had hit her first real stumble...

Democrats and some outside strategists continue to believe the issue, first reported in the Boston Herald, will die down soon, though others caution the controversy could become part of Warren’s identity, damaging her reputation among socially conservative swing voters.